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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Here's What's At the Top of My Reading List

And this is important because I'll be out of town and unplugged July 5th-12th so I have to have the right books with me to read while waiting in airports, on the plane, and those occasional moments of downtime between Mom's errands and appointments.

(Mark Stevens is the one I know--he's the past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and currently volunteers on the board as Program Chair and is a monthly contributor to the RMFW Blog. I'm already familiar with Reilly's wonderful Asphalt Warrior series about a Denver taxi driver named Murph -- just finished reading Doctor Lovebeads --but The Enlisted Men's Club is the first of a the Gary Reilly trilogy about the war in Vietnam and I've heard it's way different from the Asphalt Warrior series. The Gary Reilly team is currently trying to raise the funds on Kickstarter to publish the rest of Gary's outstanding novels. Go here to learn more and contribute.)

I became interested in this topic because one of my mom's Registered Nurse friends was with the women who were taken captive by the Japanese when they invaded the Philippines in World War II. When Mom heard about a new book on the subject, a YA non-fiction by Mary Cronk Farrell calledPure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific, she asked me to order a copy for her. I sent Pure Grit in hardcover on to Mom and kept the Bataan story to read first. Of course, I'll be reading Pure Grit too.

3. Coffee Cup Tales: Stories Inspired by Overheard Conversations at the Coffee Shop by Richard KellerKnowing how loud a conversation can get at a coffee shop and how we tend to convince ourselves we're in a bubble and no one else can hear, I'm expecting lots of fun with this selection of stories from Rich.Most who regularly visit this blog know I have Rich over to guest star at least twice a year and sometimes more (because he has me wrapped around his little finger). I can't help it. He makes me laugh. And the books on my Kindle will serve as back up although I'm not sure where to start. I have an assortment of genres and will simply go with my mood and the luck of the draw.....from over 175 choices.Now it's your turn. What's at the top of your summer reading list?

Alex, it's more like inspiration to talk loudly over a burritos and beer about a failed young adult romance. Seems that the age of texting has caused an issue with volume control when people actually speak to each other.

Everyone else, the royalty amounts are clear for July. Time to pick up your copy of Coffee Cup Tales or Paradise Not Quite Lost.

About Me

I am the author of the standalone suspense Dead Wrong (Nov 2014), a finalist in the thriller category for the 2015 Colorado Book Awards, and two Sylvia and Willie mysteries: The Prairie Grass Murders (2007) and The Desert Hedge Murders (August 2009).